Day 109 Melbourne (Little Vietnam)

Time: A Couple of Hours
Distance: Several Blocks
Avg Speed: Strolling
Terrain: City

We headed out and stayed near home today. One of our hosts, Christine, had told us that there was a little Asian area near here. We decided to grab lunch over there and see what it was all about. It was the real deal. The Chinatown district that we visited yesterday was pretty neat, but typical downtown type of stuff. The Vietnam area that we visited today had its share of restaurants that served traditional dishes. The real cool part was that different shops and markets that lined that streets. There were the fishmongers, the butchers, the bakers (yummy), and the grocers. We picked up a few veggies and some bread on our tour and just marveled at all the different fruits and veggies. They even had duck and quail eggs for sale by the dozen. We joked that we were going to be all noodled out before we even got to Asia if we kept this up. We shall see.
We headed back to the abode where Leslie grabbed a cat nap and I decided to work on the bikes. My cycle computer wasn’t working and I couldn’t figure it out. It turned out I need a new battery. Easy enough. Leslie, on the other hand, was and is still having trouble with her front derailleur. We had thought we had gotten it fixed in Blenheim in NZ, but evidently not. It is now worse that ever. I think we got over charged and had the old 30/30 guarantee as we walked out the door (30 feet or 30 seconds, which ever comes first). We were a little peeved about the shop when we were in Blenheim due to the horrid customer service and suspect work. Now we are really peeved. The only recourse we have is this…THE SPOKESMAN BICYCLE SHOP IN BLENHEIM, NEW ZEALAND IS CRAP!! There I feel much better. It is interesting to note that every bike shop we went into in New Zealand gave us the run around about parts or schedules. I am not sure if they were really that busy, or really that rude. I find it interesting that in a country where tourism is your #1 bread and butter they make it difficult for you to spend your money. On a positive note, I was able to call a couple of bike shops around here who were more than happy to get us in first thing on Monday (they were closed over the weekend) and get us taken care of right there. Another notch for the Aussies.
CK